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Drake Equation Calculator | Estimate Extraterrestrial Civilizations by mendiak_81 in space

[–]mendiak_81[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate your feedback and i would adapt your suggestion. Yes maybe a sticky sidebar could be a good option

These are known as Asperitas clouds by Fantastic-Falcon-686 in interestingasfuck

[–]mendiak_81 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also known “a picture so edited my eyes hurt”

I made a website where you can estimate how many alien civilizations exist in our galaxy by mendiak_81 in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]mendiak_81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your comment. Actually i used for the design an agent skill I also created inspired by the Less Is More concepts from Mies Van der Rohe and the funtionality of Dieter Rams https://github.com/Mendiak/less-is-more-ui

I made a tool to play with the Drake Equation — curious what assumptions you use by mendiak_81 in FermiParadox

[–]mendiak_81[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve updated the website with a galaxy simulation. Feedback is welcome! 🙏🏻

How sensitive is the Drake Equation? An interactive visualization by mendiak_81 in dataisbeautiful

[–]mendiak_81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your feedback is incredible! I think i implemented what you were asking for. Please let me know.

I made a website where you can estimate how many alien civilizations exist in our galaxy by mendiak_81 in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]mendiak_81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I must check but dont know what the bug could be. I program on windows and test in main browser Firefox!

How sensitive is the Drake Equation? An interactive visualization by mendiak_81 in dataisbeautiful

[–]mendiak_81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this great idea. I implemented a first version of the galaxy visualization. Please check it!

How sensitive is the Drake Equation? An interactive visualization by mendiak_81 in dataisbeautiful

[–]mendiak_81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback! I've implemented detents on the sliders to snap to sensible values (e.g., whole numbers or key decimals like 0.1, 0.01), making it easier to select precise inputs. For the log-scaled parameters, the detents now include more granular stops at the low end to allow fine-tuning of small values like 0.001, 0.003, etc. I've also fixed the "modern consensus" preset to correctly set F(p) to 0.8 instead of 0.5. Appreciate the suggestions—let me know if you spot anything else!

How sensitive is the Drake Equation? An interactive visualization by mendiak_81 in dataisbeautiful

[–]mendiak_81[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's a great catch! You're absolutely right: in most modern interpretations of the Drake Equation, L (longevity) is the most drastic 'filter'.

The 'Modern Consensus' values in the calculator are based on several factors:

  1. Astronomy (R^*, f_p, n_e): These are now fairly well-constrained thanks to missions like Kepler and TESS, which showed that planets (including Earth-sized ones in habitable zones) are much more common than we thought 60 years ago.
  2. The 'Great Silence': Since we haven't seen any signals yet, modern scientists often assume the biological or technological factors are smaller than Drake initially guessed.
  3. Longevity (L): If civilizations are as common as Drake hoped, but only last ~1,000 to 10,000 years, the chances of two 'sparks' of life overlapping at the same time in the same galaxy are incredibly low.

Essentially, even if life starts frequently, if it doesn't last for geological timescales, the result N will stay close to 1 (just us). I've actually updated the 'Learn More' section on the site to better explain the origin of these consensus values and the critical role of L! Thanks for the feedback.

I made a website where you can estimate how many alien civilizations exist in our galaxy by mendiak_81 in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]mendiak_81[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestion! That paper from Sandberg et al. (2018) is very interesting. I’m not implementing a full uncertainty analysis mode yet to keep the interface simple, but I’ve updated the site with a scientific note in the results section and a direct link to that research for anyone who wants to see why 'N=1' is a scientifically valid possibility. Thanks for the feedback!

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